let's go with blue soy milk. >> we have brian here. it's the cubs opener. this is the year. >> you know, i certainly hope so. 105 years in the waiting. it was 1908 the last time the n cubs this year? >> alfonso. >> i don't think it's going to go so well. great show, everyone. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> all right. good morning. it's monday, april 1st. it truly is april 1st. happy april fool's day, everybody. welcome to "morning joe." what is that? >> you just ruined it for a lot of people out there. >> why? >> because now they know. >> willie geist and joe and me back together again. >> yes!

>> old friends unite. >> with us on the set msnbc and "time" magazine political analyst mark halpern and visiting professor at nyu, former democratic congressman, harold ford jr. in washington, nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. >> do you know how mean he is? >> he is mean. >> we are watching like a football game a couple of months ago. right? we walk in the room and i can't say this. >> why are we starting this way? i'm sure it was foul-mouthed. >> no. he said did you hear burt reynolds died and a friend of mine said, what? no! i'm just kidding. i said you don't kid about that with people in my generation. this morning i get in the car and he does the same thing on sean connery! >> what is wrong with him? >> and i lose it because we are driving in. we are driving in.

he spends easter weekend. we go to church. we have this remarkable sermon and, you know, the pastor is quoting john updike and i'm thinking this is good for my son and everything else. and he comes out and he pulls sean connery this morning. tells me that sean connery -- i turn, what are you talking about? >> how long does he let that go? keep you on the line? >> kept me on the line for a while. the know what the worst part was? he didn't even know it was april fool's. >> come on! yes, he did! >> do you know why he is doing this? he is still getting back at me because i was the one that broke the news of kurt. but that really happened. >> we are back. >> willie, what is the worst april fool's joke you've ever been victim of? come on now. >> oh, gosh. sid finch? >> fooled the nation. >> were you ever fooled? >> no. they were all true. everything that happened to me. >> they were all bad?

>> yeah. >> harold? >> i was thinking as you asked will willie, i don't know. >> andrea? >> i can't think of any. it's so obvious it is april 1st. you figure everything is a joke, right? >> the baseball season is starting. >> the yankees. >> the nationals. miami. >> we have a great show today. peter gammons is showing up today. >> opening day. you should be enjoying it. we also have the final -- the injury to the louisville player. that looked terrible. >> oh, my gosh. that looks like it's it's career ending although they say it's not. >> are we showing this? >> terrible. >> they will just show the aftermath. >> oh, man, what happened here? >> this was in the duke/louisville regional final. a routine player. a duke player knocks down a jump shot.

if you're watching it it live the first indication you had when they took what is called the hero shot. the kid from duke started patting his chest and looked like he was going to cry. louisville player down on the court and is not the one that was injured and turned out sophomore kevin ware had come down awkwardly. doesn't begin to say it, on his leg. the bone had come through the skin. >> oh, wow. >> not just a little. significant. >> it was six inches out according to the head coach rick pitino. some kids on the bench were sick at their stomachs. theory are the teammates reacting to what they witnessed. remarkable thing is rick pitino said as they were all weeping over him and falling to their knees, ware was saying, i'm fine. just win the game.

the training staff covered the leg with a towel to prevent anyone else from seeing it. he was carried off on a stretcher and louisville won the game by 22 points. it was a close game at that point. they brought -- rick pitino brought the championship trophy there to the hospital for kevin ware. they say it could be a year before he could play again. he will probably red-shirt next year and probably play after that. >> they can fix it? >> they compared it to other athletes have had that happen and gone on to have good careers after that. >> i think cbs sports deserves credit. they showed a replay before they knew what was wrong but it wasn't up close and from there on, they didn't show it again. >> you know it's bad when joe theismann starts tweeting. i understand. harold, it's horrible. >> 19 years old. hopefully, youth is on his side and it's hard to watch.

>> on a positive note, go big blue. >> the sweet 16 game against kansas to be down by five with less than 30 seconds to find our way back. trey burke wouldn't stop hitting threes. our big man mcgrath, a freshman. you got to love him and our chances. >> and can you believe, mark halpern? i picked wichita state! >> when i looked over your bracket, it jumped out at me. >> let's show my predictions. there we go. can you believe? where did that come from? >> these are four great teams. >> a lot of people said you were crazy on selection sunday. >> i called it from the very beginning. >> i thought you had them just going to the sweet 16. >> no, all the way to the final four. >> brilliant. >> i will reveal the rest of my picks next week. >> next monday. >> next tuesday, actually. >> we actually do have a sports cast coming up so we can review

all of this once again but let's get to some news. interesting story we start the headlines with. in texas, police are still searching for a motive behind the murders of texas district attorney mike mcclelland and his wife on saturday. he was shot multiple times inside his home with what officials believe was an assault rifle. the local mayor says it does not appear to be a random act and now elected officials are receiving added security. the murder come two months after the brazen shooting death of an assistant prosecutor in the same county. lawmakers say no early indications the shootings are connected but according to the dallas morning news suspect is likely to be on a prison gang that the d.a.'s office had prosecuted in the area. >> there is a series of officials that have been gunned down. >> yeah. >> and after his predecessor was gunned down he went out and held

a press conference and said we are going to continue this and now he has been gunned down as well and his wife. >> we will follow that. also on the front page of "the new york times." this is an incredible story. stunning new data from the cdc showing an increase of hyperactivity among school-aged children. the report states an estimated 6.4 million children between the ages of 4 and 17, 11% of all children have been diagnosed with adhd. that's a 53% increase orver the past decade but this information has many doctors concerned about misdiagnosed cases and overmedicating kids. two-thirds of those diagnosed with adhd are taking prescription medication and these are controlled substances and they are really strong drugs and some studies show once kids are on that it opens up the

opportunity of other substance abuse later and psychotic behavior. it's scary stuff. >> i got two older boys and i started seeing in the early 1990s, doctors started, pediatricians started trying to pass out ritalin like candy and then you had some people in schools. any time any child had any problems, you know, kids 6, 7, 8, you know what? they are adhd and they need to take ritalin and it has continued and i will tell you the long-term impact has been -- we always -- i mean, they look at your child and we have this happen because we moved around a good bit as i was going to law school and other places. couple of minutes later, they say they probably should be on ritalin. joey is sitting there reading the guttenberg bible and the original german. it's unbelievable how quickly they try to dispense that stuff

and, of course, the infamous quote it's safer than aspinner and for adderall. i've seen it in college. friends who have college kids. we have a nation of kids who are addicted to prescription drugs and they are dying. i don't want to give the specifics on certain college campuses. i will just tell you one college campus i know of, tlhere is a fraternity that had a pledge class. five kids have died of prescription drug overdoses five in the past four years. this happens -- this is the great untold story. "the new york times" had a wonderful sunday story a couple of weeks ago. the untold story. can you go to major college campuses across america and kids are dying of drug overdoses either adderall or oxycontin and

they bounce back and forth. >> i know it's happening in high school because i hear my daughters talking about it and i'm sort of in this world with one of my kids. but these kids take this stuff for add and adhd on test day and start getting used to medicating for events, for academic event. it's become a part of their life. >> what happens is they take the adderall to get up and stay up for a day, day and a half, two days. >> study. >> and then come down, they will take the oxycontin and what adderall does, it goes off a cliff and whatever you're on. this happens all over america and stunned more people aren't talking about it. they just stop breathing in their sleep. it's happening all the time in college campuses. >> because they abuse these drugs and they get the good grades. they get the payoff from them. it's amazing. >> it starts with doctors prescribing it and the bottom

line of this "the new york times" story and, thank you, "the new york times," for doing this again, for talking about it again, it started back in the late '80s when they started pushing ritalin on every kid. every kid. i never saw anything like it and i remember at the time going, wait, what are they trying to do? raise a generation of drug addicts? 20 years later, this is where we are. and it's happening. >> 53% increase in ten years, think about that. >> i grew up to be really blunt, i grew up playing music and i had friends that were involved in drugs and one of my close friends who ended up dying of a drug overdose said he had done everything, had done everything. i remember breaking down crying. he said, you know what? i can handle it at all. he said but these pills, thorouthey are the devil and they will kill me in the end and they did. and they did.

why more people -- and, again, it's happening at college campuses today. >> i'm very nervous about it. i have in my own world but these numbers should give everyone pause and doctors need to think twice about prescribing it. >> it's just instantaneous. >> it's instant reaction. >> in the piece you guys are talking about from the professor at harvard medical school says a tremendous push if a kids's behavior is thought to be, quote/unquote, abnormal not sitting quiet at their desk, a question of diagnosis as well. >> that is a question of diagnosis. i wonder how steven jobs, i'm serious. i won how steven jobs sat in his chair in second grade? i wonder what impact, how the world would have been different if a lot of these great thinkers throughout the past, you know, several hundred years had had doctors instead of giving hem

ritalin? they are a little fidgety. >> i did a couple of several-part series on this for cbs on the increase in diagnosis of all of these labels you can give kids, the increase in the past two decades because they are actually looking at these children and giving them a diagnosis and some experts would argue that these children will go on a bad road if they are not treated and will end up in jail, the children with the severe bipolar disorder or severe adhd and need the treatment. i think that is the world the parent has to navigate. >> i guarantee you people watching today who have kids and e-mail us in, if you will. we don't usually do this. i guarantee you my two older children are 25 and 22, i will

guarantee you that parents are children in their 20s have the same experience that i had all over america where they take their children in and doctors -- and some educators -- are trying to push ritalin on the kids and it started when they were 5, 6, 7, 8. this is what we get 20, 25 years later. >> yeah. >> and so i understand there are some children that. >> need treatment. >> need treatment. but i also understand that the medical profession has been netting the past 25 years, 30 years prescribing this to any children that are a little antsy in their seats. >> show some things out of control, certainly. let's turn to politics. we will go to gun control. it appears any piece of gun control legislation that could make it out of the senate will be significantly watered down from the proposal.

gun rights activists focusing on universal background checks as the next part of the democrats bill they hope to dismiss. u.s. senator cast a vote. >> we do need the strength in the background check system but universal background checks, i think, is a bridge too far for most of us. >> why is that? why shouldn't we have to go through tsa checkpoints, law abiding citizens have to do that. what is with -- what is wrong going through an expanded background checks? >> the paper work alone would be significant. i think in this universal background check system there would be issues with. so i think universal background checks, we can scale back and still make significant progress by strengthening our background check system without going too far. >> there are now five republican senators threatening to

filibuster any legislation that imposes additional gun restrictions. democrats would need 60 votes to overcome the likely filibuster. senator chuck schumer is still optimistic. there can be compromise when it comes to universal background checks. >> i'm working very hard with both democrats and republicans, pro nra and anti-nra people to come up with a background check bill that will be acceptable to 60 senators and be very strong and get the job done. it's very hard. we're working hard and i'm very hopeful that we can get this passed. >> dana milbank writes in "the washington post". obama on guns too little too late. on almost every topic from budget negotiations to national security, washington seems only to act these days in response to crisis if it acts at all. obama errored in trying to use

newtown to build support for his positions on taxes and energy and immigration and he compounded the error by sending j joe biden to conduct a study. once the president took his foot off the accelerator no other action not even michael bloomberg's ad campaign to maintain the momentum. mark kelly has been, obviously, outspoken advocate on gun control legislation and he has been going around and buying guns and showing how long it takes to fill out a background check. i think it was like five minutes and 36 seconds, just if you care. if you can wait five minutes and 36 seconds for your gun. >> so i'm hearing behind the scenes there is still a deal that is being worked on universal background checks but yesterday it sound like it might be dead. >> they are still trying to figure out some sort of compromise. again, the legislative strategy is clear they have to get something through the senate.

each if they do the house is a real challenge. you still hear from a lot of republicans they would like to do something. not just the public opinion polls and not michael bloomberg's money and not even the tragic events in connecticut. a lot of see it something they are willing to deal with if they can find a compromise. i think basically they need -- still need a republican party. colburn may not be the one they get. i think john mccain may be. >> it's a 90% issue when it comes to the background checks for criminals for people with mental issues, harold. the big holdup now is individual-to-individual. father to son, father to daughter, friend to friend. that is the issue they are trying to work out. from what i'm hearing there's a possibility the nra may give the

members a pass because they know it's a 90/10 issue. >> they seem very close. i think mark is about right when it comes to finding a republican party to get this done. but i'm encouraged. i take schumer at his word is there a way to find an agreement here. it's unfortunate that we find ourselves this late in the process. we are talking about newtown back in december. we are not almost, but april. >> do you agree with dana milbank? >> i think you can look at it either way. i wouldn't go as far as dana has gone there. however, it does beg the question we are now in april. if this is the holdup now you're saying how they define where the background checks apply if we are talking family member to family member and i hope we can move beyond this and get people with serious deficiencies be it mental or whatever. >> criminals. >> if this goes through -- that

closes the gun show loophole and closes online sales and guess what? there are a lot of gun shop owners that wouldn't mind that happening. >> exactly. >> andrea, a lot of gun control people are going to say, you know, if we just get background checks, we have lost this battle, especially after what happened in newtown, no assault weapons ban. what is the conversation the last three months and what we may end up here tell about the future for the gun control for those advocates how much they could get someday perhaps? >> when you think, in all due respect, to dana milbank, think of the state of the union speech and think of the emotional conclusion to that state of the union address and the way the president addressed the nation. i think what happened is chuck schumer and the group on the hill said, wait. let's see what we can accomplish and he did refer to them as he did on health care so that is a fair point. but schumer thinks he can put

something together and it will not include as we have seen from harry reid the assault weapons ban. harry reid has moved quite a bit on this. let's face it, he sees the handwriting on the wall, he sees the numbers. the nra opposed him in 2010 which was a big disappointment to him. "the new york times" lays that out today. so harry reid is moving on what he thinks they can do. it is disappointing to the a advoca advocacy, no question about it. perhaps when you see these law enforcement officials, the sheriff and his wife and the incidence in texas and the colorado correction official, when you see these kind of assassinations of law enforcement officials, this seems to be a major crisis out west and maybe that will give some impetus to it but i think the best they will get is background checks and the straw purchases. >> we are getting a lot of e-mails on the cdc report in the surge on adhd treatment in young

people across the country. alex, give us a sense. >> one woman wris have you noticed the use of ritalin has gone up as standardized test programs go up? teachers need to act like robots. >> any more? >> one personal one. she wants to be anonymous. her son was diagnosed with adhd in second grade and took adderall and ritalin and now a full-blown meth addict. >> a lot like that. >> we will touch on with a doctor coming on the show to talk about his new book, "the brothers emmanuel." >> i thought you were going to say he is on adderall himself. >> i love the brothers emmanuel. also chris hayes will join us. tina brown will be here as well. in a few minutes the mlb network peter gammons.

but, first, here is bill karins with the forecast. >> in minnesota, they are playing a game, the twins versus the tigers, tell you how cold it will be coming up. rain up there in maine and rain existing areas of georgia and south carolina. but the cold is the story. it is a blast of cold air. hopefully, this is the last one. it's not going to head into the deep south but it is right now going through the northern plains today through the great lakes and then tomorrow, through new england. look at these windchills. remember, they are playing outdoor baseball game in chicago and in minneapolis today. in minneapolis the windchill is 8. fargo has a windchill of 2. this is like wintertime cold. and it's not going to warm up much in those areas. even with sunshine. highs will be in the 30s today. windchill in chicago will be down around 30 during the baseball game this afternoon. and in minnesota, windchills will be in the teens! so new york city's home opener

the yankees at home against the red sox looks nice at 56 and not too many other problems travel wise. a nice afternoon after that chilly start. chicago to minnesota does warm up on tuesday. after that cold air goes through the east. even areas like washington, d.c., this cold blast isn't exactly fridged. this time highs in the low 50s and warm it up with rain in d.c. ward the end of the week. i think the cold blast looks like it's it especially in the northern plains. survive today and the summer will soon approach as we go through the weeks ahead. maybe not summer. maybe spring. top of the rock gloomy and maybe sunshine this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ nothing but the dead back in my little town ♪ ♪

[ male announcer ] book ahead and save up to 20 percent at doubletree.com, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. people lose 5x more weight following the weight watchers approach than trying on their own. you can too. the new weight watchers 360 program. join for free and check out the new risk free guarantee today. because it works.

cheating scandal. the scandal is believed to be the largest case of school cheating in the nation's history. >> "the washington post" the white house seriously considering lisa mondaco the net director of the fbi. current director robert miller will step down on september 4th after 12 years on the job. >> that would be interesting. san jose mercury news. controversy surrounding the google's home page yesterday when the company decided to pay tribute to cesar chavez instead of the easter holiday. sunday was the late california

labor leader's birthday. in a statement google explained its decision, quote, we enjoy celebrating holidays at google but you can imagine it's difficult for us -- >> it's tough! it's tough! easter. easter. right? right? it's tough! easter? >> i don't get this. >> chavez birthday. >> easter. >> no. >> yes? >> it's tough. 2,000 years. this has been a tossup. >> easter. >> am i not right? >> the easter bunny. >> not quite that long. >> okay. at least since the '60s. >> yeah. >> i think this is sort of one of those -- i think this might be a culture blind spot for our friends at google. how about a statement one day that just says we screwed up? who would have a problem with that? >> i mean come on. >> i would love from a politician, anybody. >> it's tough to decide between

easter and chavez birthday. i'm not knocking chavez's birthday but this is important. this is what google needs to -- i talked about the sermon yesterday. >> this is nice. >> i talked about the sermon yesterday. since google went too far one direction. >> let's overcorrect. >> i don't think this is overcorrecting. i did not know this. john updike was a devote christian. did you know this? >> no. >> your campaign commercials you're in a pew read ago bible. john updike, a devout christian and our pastor said this. let us not mock god with analogy and side-stepping and transcendence. making of the event comparable. in earlier ages let us walk through that door. i love it. john updike said he either rose

or he didn't rise. don't insult god with metaphor. believe or don't believe. walk through the door. isn't that something? >> there you go. you balanced things out. >> i balanced things out. what else do we have? >> google did not walk through the door. >> they screwed up. >> maybe they should have a picture of john updike on his birthday which, unfortunately, falls on september 25th, and then have this quote. not even the easter bunny was safe from the california highway patrol. the easter bunny pulled over for not riding a helmet to a motorcycle charitable event. >> that has to be april fool's. >> the easter bunny was let go with a warning. >> first google and now the lapd? >> we will talk opening day baseball coming up next. >> yeah, baby. >> red sox and yankees battling for the cellar in the a.l. east tod today.

>> this is for fifth place. >> all on the line. >> also the dog. chris russo will also be with us along with peter gammons. ♪ glory days will pass you by glory days in the young girl's eyes ♪ [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob?

not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. no routine blood monitoring means bob can spend his extra time however he likes. new zealand! xarelto® is just one pill a day, taken with the evening meal. and with no dietary restrictions, bob can eat the healthy foods he likes. do not stop taking xarelto® rivaroxaban without talking to the doctor who prescribes it for you.

stopping may increase your risk of having a stroke. get medical help right away if you develop any signs or symptoms of bleeding, like unusual bruising or tingling. you may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto® with aspirin products, nsaids or blood thinners. talk to your doctor before taking xarelto® if you currently have abnormal bleeding. xarelto® can cause bleeding, which can be serious, and rarely may lead to death. you are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto®, and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. tell your doctors you are taking xarelto® before any planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any conditions, such as kidney, liver or bleeding problems. ready to change your routine? ask your doctor about once-a-day xarelto®. for more information including cost support options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com.

♪ after the boys of summer have gone ♪ welcome back to "morning joe." it is opening day of the 2013 baseball season. with us now from the gam cam in cape cod, massachusetts. i think we just made that up. peter gammons and here on the set with us is chris russo who has his own series on sirius radio. peter, at 1:00 this afternoon, cc sabathia and jon lester at yankees stadium. talk red sox and yankees fans off a ledge this season because it doesn't look good going? >> it's a narrow ledge. what is fascinating, detroit, washington, cincinnati and atlanta and the west coast teams, no mention of the red sox and yankees after a decade of almost boredom of boarding the

shuttle back and forth. they will be lucky to finish third which is different than from the mast. >> past. >> remember our sports broadcast every day? talking about the yankees and the red sox. and some central time zone team ended up with it. >> the reds, where did they come from? >> what are you seeing this year? >> i think peter is right. but i think the one thing about the yankees that is interesting, they go into a year with no expectations on them. and the yankees, very rarely start a season when nobody expects anything and watch them play great now that nobody thinks they will be any good in the 2013. i think the fans like it oo too. the yankees season almost starts october 1st and they don't play well in the playoffs, they have had a lousy year. i think this year the yankees will be a weird team to watch and might be better than you think. i agree with pete, a wide open american league east and anybody can wear it and a wide open

baseball season when you get down it. >> peter, you mentioned the washington nationals are a sexy pick right now. "sports illustrated" likes them. steven strasburg could be the cy young winner and bryce harper to be the mvp. >> they could be the best team in baseball. i personally picked the tigers to beat them in the world series. but they are so good. i mean, when you start with bryce harper at the age of 20 and you have strasburg and you have zimmerman at third base who is a great player. they have the deepest starting staff in terms of power arms in baseball. they got soriano, the closer. they are really good. it's really fun to see the revival of baseball in washington. they played at fenway park last june. one-third of the crowd had traveled to boston. one-third of the crowd at fenway were wearing nationals hats. this has become a fascinating national franchise and they have a chance to be really good.

atlanta has a chance to be really good. the team with all of the pressure, is really out in los angeles. the dodgers and the angels are the two teams with a huge payrolls. they are going out and getting the stars. baseball does seem to be moving west but, at the same time, there are tremendous expectations and anticipation on them. >> chris, you heard peter say detroit over washington in the world series. who do you have? >> i have no problem with that. i'm with pete, nationals are a trendy pick and toronto and dodgers very similar. they both made a lot of moves and spent a lot of money and see how they gel once the season begins but it's wide open. more good teams in the national league than the american league for a change. >> really? >> you think about it. you got the giants and dodgers and two good teams. cincinnati a good team and st. louis a good team and atlanta and the nationals. in the american league the tigers, that's it in that division. you like the angels. i mean, they are a good team. texas got a chance to be pretty good. i still think actually for a

change i like the top teams in the national league than the american league and especially the yankees and red sox than before season begins. >> why did neither have the orioles? >> last year, they were so good in extra innings and so good in one-run games and baseball that usually evens itself out the next year. so the orioles think go from 93 to 80 wins. they think everybody can't stand them and watch orioles be better than you think. the american league is wide open. >> i think the orioles will be better than people think. they only had chandler who threw 150 innings last year and never repeat what they did. the rotation is completely different come august than it is in april. so i think they will evolve and their regular everyday players play the game as hard as any group of players in baseball. buck showalter has done a

terrific job building around them. >> peter, you're as connect as anybody in baseball. a story in "the new york times" about alex rodriguez to opt out of his contract in 2007 and going on his hands and knees back to the steinbrenner's to be asked back in new york. the reporting in that story was that scott boris, without a-rod's consent, opted out of the contract. do you believe that for a second that an agent without the consent of his client, especially when it's alex rodriguez, would get him out of a deal that would hurt him later? >> i don't think scott would have done that. they, obviously, separated later. but i think a lot of other factors were involved. i don't think that alex was -- if you remember, the big story broke the night of the last game of the 2007 world series when a cancer survivor jon lester was going out and starting the world series deciding game and it became a-rod night, not jon lester night. it was pretty distasteful but, at the same time, that seemed to

be scott driving hank steinbrenner into panic. red sox will win the world series and you might lose alex rodriguez. if it did happen, it was brilliant negotiations. not so brilliant for the yankees, though. >> clearly in the. we can't let you go as a new york guy, dog, without talking about the new york mets. any hope at citifield this year? >> they are going to have a long year. he's a good manager so they are overachieved for a little while and they have a little pitching but their outfield is terrible. that's a tough division. think about that division of how come back the phillies would be decent and two top teams, you saw them both in the playoffs. mets will probably win around 72, 73 games and be a typical empty citifield and how about today? both the yankees and mets are playing for the first time since 1956 on opening day at the same time. >> that's exciting. >> both teams are mad because it's at 1:00 so who will pay

attention to the mets today? everybody will pay attention to the yankees. >> starts on the first day, the overshadow. >> the red sox, we love them. >> peter gammons of the mlb network, thank you. mlb coverage of opening day starts toot at 10:00 eastern time including the premier of mlb now. we will see you on xm, mad dog. >> great to see you. coming up next the political playbook with mike allen and more with andrew mitchell when "morning joe" comes back. ♪ but now i might be mistaken

i've always had to keep my eye on her...

but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat.

[ male announcer ] book ahead and save up to 20 percent at doubletree.com, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. doubletree by hilton. for tapping into a wealth of experience. for access to one of the top wealth management firms in the country. for a team of financial professionals who provide customized solutions. for all of your wealth management and retirement goals, discover how pnc wealth management can help you achieve. visit pnc.com/wealthsolutions to find out more.

washington, d.c. look at that. you need to wake up. you're going to feel a little extra sleepy on this foggy day. >> willie, so your buddy started -- >> he and three friends. eyeglasses and sunglasses. a company they decided that glasses cost too much. sunglasses like 300 bucks so they make them under a hundred dollars and every time they sell a pair, they give a pair of eyeglasses to someone in the developing world like a kid or somebody who can't buy a pair of glasses. >> i brought it up. it's on the front of "the new york times." it's what i wear. they pretty inexpensive but glasses shouldn't cost so much. >> they have done very well. under a hundred bucks. eyeglasses and sunglasses. >> why should you pay $500 for a pair of glasses? that is what happens. ie it's ridiculous. >> you lose them or you sit on them. >> i do. i have 12 of them.

they cost 15 bucks. thank you, ken. with us is now is chief white house correspondent for politico and for the playbook, my allen and also in washington is andrea mitchell. >> happy opening day. i'm headed out to nats park. grace is going to be in a major league baseball park for the first time, my daughter. she is 7. >> i will always remember my first baseball game. >> when you go to one. >> no. it was fantastic. i didn't know baseball was so fancy. all right. >> i think i was with you. prime rib! >> i got a tour of fenway park. >> any way mark sanford is facing a runoff tomorrow. how does it look, mike allen, for the former governor who, many people believe, didn't have a shot to get back to congress. >> they didn't. politico's alex has found

amazing tomorrow mark sanford is almost certain to become the republican nominee in the first district and looks like he is going up against stephen colbert's sisters. she pronounces hearse lar last differently. sanford work with evangelical and big name i.d. and seemed to have paid off. in polls he has a double digit lead, way more financing than curt bostic who is a former councilman. >> are you surprised by, andrea? >> not surprised. getting the nomination in south carolina is a very big ga

advantage. as mike said, sanford will be the republican nominee. >> this is an exciting race. >> mark halpern, he has run a great campaign. you look at the commercials. you read even in "the new york times" you read the stories talking about him and he is just anybody that wants to come up and talk to him. >> ask himing in. >> ask him anything. he just sits there and he opens his heart up to them and it's really paid off politically for him. >> his personal problems did not eliminate from his arsenal. he has good people around him and smartly advised him what his personal problems would have had on portions of the electorate. >> i liked second chances in life and politics. mark, serving in congress along with him. i liked him then. he has taken on head-on what many people in life would have a

hard time taking head-on. i wish him success in how he has conducted his campaign. >> mike allen, thank you very much. >> have a great week. watch out for april follow's day. >> enjoy the game today. watch out for foul balls. >> it's going to happen. something is going to happen the next two hours. >> you're here. it already has. coming up, he calls it the corruption of capitalism in america. former reagan director david stockman. "the great deformation." >> he joins us straight ahead. the host of msnbc new 8:00 p.m. show, chris hayes will be here in just a minute. we will be right back. ♪ giving up i close my eyes

♪ sitting cross-legged on the floor 246 to 4 ♪ with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. the longest 4g lte battery in a razr thin profile. with 32 hours of battery life that turns an all-nighter, into a two-nighter. the droid razr maxx hd by motorola. droid-endurance. droid-powerful.

.

coming up next, chris hayes and tina brown join the set. oh, boy! here we go. more "morning joe" when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ i've got the power people lose 5x more weight following the weight watchers approach

than trying on their own. you can too. ♪ ♪ you've got the power ♪ ♪ oh, yeah ♪ get the power the new weight watchers 360 program. ♪ whoo! join for free and check out the new risk free guarantee today. because it works. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts... well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour three. zyrtec®. love the air.

claritin® doesn't start working until hour three. nehey!r! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. introducing the versatile, all-new subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage,

groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes at ducktherapy.com. transit fares! as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. no? oh, right. you're thinking of the 1.6 million daily customer care interactions xerox handles. or the 900 million health insurance claims we process. so, it's no surprise to you that companies depend on today's xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. which is...pretty much what we've always stood for. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

♪ ♪ welcome to the workweek >>. in washington, d.c., as you wake up, it is draped in fog this morning. top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." >> i miss florida. >> god, i miss florida. >> wherever you are, welcome to "morning joe." welcome back. mark halpern. >> i was showing you that. >> walk us through this. >> help us. this is fantastic. >> we got washington. >> that's all we can see, alex. >> the mall. >> is this all d.c.? >> i think so. >> good lord. >> all of the monuments.

>> we can't see anything, alex. it looks like three white boxes and a monument. thank you. mark halpern is still bus and so is andrea mitchell in washington. >> can't see anything. fog in washington. >> we are all fogged in in washington. shocking. washington in a fog. >> in so many ways. joining us at the table is editor of "newsweek" magazine and daily beast tina brown and with chris hayes. you can still take your bike to work? >> the bike was stolen. a victim of urban life. >> are you serious? >> yes, it was. >> your bike was stolen? >> it was stolen out of my apartment building. >> the bike for your promo? >> yes. >> oh, no. >> it lasted five years which, in city terms, a long time. >> somebody broke into your apartment and took your bike? >> into my building. it was outside of my building for a super bowl party and my daughter had gotten tall enough she was able to grab the tire

from where it was hanging. i thought it was a bad idea so we put it outside in the lobby for a second. >> it's gone. >> you don't have it. it's in this promo of yours. >> you need a bike. >> can i buy you like an suv? like a hummer or something? >> yes! >> get him a segway. >> i don't want that. >> luckily we have the greatest transportation in all of the world here in new york city. >> i know but it saves so much energy. i wish i weren't like it's good being like 6'4" and everything but i could ride one of those around. >> i'd like to see you on a bicycle. >> a scarf, italian suit, cigarette, i can imagine you on one. >> football helmet. >> kind of like out of "easy rider." a lot to talk about. fog in washington. >> we are back from easter break. did you have a good one?

>> i'm a little slow. we saw as a family "the life of pie." have you seen that? >> people love it. have not seen it. >> it is an amazing, amazing movie. >> something stops me seeing that movie. i have some kind of -- >> same here. same here. actually my daughter said -- i saw it. it is just -- you talk about a great director. >> well deserved. >> i looked at colleges. >> how did that go? >> it was fun. then i -- >> no, how did it go? >> physically or on the internet? >> no, we went to colleges. then i went to miami and i went on a banana boat. >> really? how did that work out for you? >> i almost fell off. and my daughter said it was the best day of her life so i guess

that is a good day. >> i went flying in the air and she said it was the best day of her life. >> all right. >> let's get to the news. >> banana boat drive around the street. >> no. you ride. >> no, those are the ducks! >> i'm confusing my yellow boats! >> it's not where i expected myself to be. but for your kids, you'll do anything, right? absolutely. let's get to the news. oh, i discovered this incredible healthy restaurant. >> you're turning into me. >> yes. it's amazing. fast, elegant foot. pastha's in miami. everything is healthy. stung new data from the cdc showing hyperactivity in school-aged children. the report states 6.4 million children between 4 and 17, 11% of all children have been diagnosed adhd.

this information has many doctors concerned about misdiagnosed case and the potential for overmedicating kids. about two-thirds of those diagnosed with adhd had taking prescription medication like ritalin or adderall. >> tina, your boys are about the same age as mine. did you notice? >> notice? are you kidding me? >> you had pediatricians shoving ritalin at your kids, at school teachers, everybody shoving them. >> everybody. we have completely been through this. the other evening i went out for a dinner and every parent there who had a boy in particular this was the entire topic of conversation that their kids now, they show up for the parent/teacher meeting and a shrink sitting there. one of them who is an artist said the shrink said we are concerned about your son. they said why? all he thinks about is painting and art. the artist said to me i consider that his talent and a strength.

they said we think it's an issue. it's an issue now if you have a passion or a hobby. >> i had a similar experience. >> thank god, steve jobs, didn't come of age in like 1987, '88 because i'm sure he was squirming in his seat and i'm sure he was a difficult guy to deal with. you couldn't hold me down. you couldn't hold a lot of people i know who were successful down in second, third, fourth grade. the past 25 years they have been shoving ritalin down their throats. >> like the helicopter overachieving parents who want their kids focused all the time on grades. it's the medical industry which tries to overpromote these drugs. it's this sense that nobody can ever have two minutes of discomfort and trying. actually just putting up with just life in general. >> the kids get hooked because it works for them and they get the positive reinforce of having to medicate to get through a test. >> as they get older they think of pills to be the solution to

every mood. >> concentration is hard. i think of this all the time with my daughter. it's hard -- >> how old is she? >> she is 16 months. she is in this amazing developmental stage and exploring. when you're a kid, you're r rambunctio rambunctious. they are entering a world that is 100% concentration. 60 seconds is hard for me, right? of course, if you bring kids into that environment, if not surprising that kids are easily distractible given the fact all of us as adults navigating the world are easily distracted. >> i believe the way kids have the international and cell phones is contributing into the adhd crisis. i think at some point that link will be made. >> i hate actually to be that age now. so much bombardment. >> their brains are breaking to

pieces. >> their brains are absolutely fried and longing for -- >> you know what i tell my son? i say, over the next 20, 30 years, read a book. you will own the world. and i'm dead serious. i'm dead serious. >> the advantage is being able on slog through it. >> they can't read books. >> stop. >> if you ever go to a conference or any kind of big talk that where adults sit there and they listen, no one is paying any attention. these are adults, right? we are asking 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds with much shorter attention spans to do something that professionals, that successful adults cannot do which is to sit and listen. >> read books. eat less sugar. exercise. don't eat food with preservatives. you could survive the internet age if you do that. >> mark halpern advice. >> we should see boys as rambunctious and rebellious and that is what makes great kids and great people, you know?

>> you're strugglinging in your house? >> the kids do the homework on their computer. we sat them down and say they have to hand in their cell phones at dinnertime and if they want to use their cell phone to text they come down to the kitchen table and text someone to get information on homework and go back upstairs and no computers in the bedroom to do homework. only in the kitchen table or in the room we can see them. they were speechless. they were stunned. they could not believe how stringent and extreme the worlds were and we were the only parents on earth to do this. that scared me. it seemed very sensible. how do you focus? >> a lady i know where there was no wi-fi and she found it wonderful. she read a huge amount of books and she totally calmed down. she just slept better. she came back so restored it was incredible.

>> they sleep with their phones and they never -- their brains never turn off. >> never turn off. >> that's enough of our depressing subject. >> interruption. >> i just got a text! >> you bring up a great point. i'm talking about how things were born. joey born in 1987 and andrew in 1991 and that was before the constant interceptions. even back then, they are talking about ritalin and now you talk about kids being interrupted every 14 seconds by a text. >> the kids have no plans of any kind and they -- >> that, i disagree with. >> i disagree. i'm telling you these girls get dressed and a guy says meet you at 7:00 to get to a bar and get a text five minutes before and sorry, done something else. it destroys the flow. >> you talk about the flow being disrupted. i will tell you what one of my friends noticed who came up to

visit and this is picking on joey day. but joey was in our house. >> you might want to stop. good lord. >> he had five of his friends around and they were watching a football game. and dan and i are sitting there. instead of watching the football game, we are watching them talk. they don't know how to converse. >> yeah. >> what will happen, one will burst out and say, did you see the "simp soson" and one sayingd you hear christian wig is in that and then i saw the most incredible story from the new england journal of medicine. they are all declarative statements. i'm dead serious. >> could we put kids today in the bug there? >> exactly. >> that is what harold plays

were like that where everybody spoke like that. >> it's human twitter. >> human twitter. >> you should see how they communicate. >> they don't communicate. >> he check out their phones. tina, did you think if you had children under 18 -- >> do you think they are watching and laughing now? >> no, they are not laughing. do you have a right to see what they are saying on their iphones. >> no. >> what? >> it's not their iphone! you're paying for it! >> they are 16 years old. >> first of all, do you actually want to read that? >> oh, yeah. >> no, you don't. >> when you're 16, you do! >> you're here. i absolutely want to know what is happening. >> do you pick it up? >> of course, i would check it out because you have no idea what is being said and you need to know. your kids need to be protected and they are not always protected and very often they are harassed and they are frightened. >> that could be happening -- >> look at the bug today. we got kids today. >> thank you! >> so, chris, i think this is -- >> off my lawn.

>> this is so cute. we are going to play this tape back to you to your 16-month-old who is 16. >> hold me to it. >> you don't think parents have a right to know what their 16-year-old kids are saying on cell phones? >> when you pay the bill? >> i'm not sure the word right -- a question do you have a right? you do have a right. you pay the bill and can do what you want to do. is it advisable? if i think about myself at 15 or 16 i was well-behaved and i was not wild and not getting in trouble in any way but there were lots of communications i had with people i had some expectation of privacy and were intimate communications. >> if your grades are good and you're not rude to me, you can have your phone and i won't read it but if it looks like something supp. i'm reading it. okay? got a problem with that? >> no, june cleaver! >> surveillance. >> you know you would do it. >> put a nanny cam in the car. >> i love that. >> you like the kids today? while we were talking about kids today this weekend, chris hayes,

looks like we have the making of an immigration deal coming together in the chamber? >> they have been talking about the future flow aspect of this, right? the border security component, the what do you do with the people here and going forward what is the future flow of immigrants look like the three aspects of the policy. the future flow looked like it might be the thing and surprising scotched the deal. a consensus early on what that would look like and a lot of worry that a fight between the afl and the chamber who had been talking for years and talking in 2007 when mccain and kennedy went down. you could begin to see people heading for the exits a week or two ago what they were leaking to the press and now we do have some kind of a framework what future flow particularly at the low wage scale of bringing in workers for the u.s. who are not the h-1 visa and doing much

lower wage work. the fact they have come together. the same thing for infrastructure and the president said this. why can't the two parties get together? >> it's a huge deal because george bush could never get business energized enough to get an immigration deal. >> what is the difference now? >> i think the president is in a better position to get business and labor than president bush was. >> but business is in such a crisis not getting certain things done. you see what happens with coca-cola. they couldn't get fruit and onions picked. impossible. >> so, andrea mitchell, looks like peace may be breaking out, dogs and accounts living together, the chamber and afl working together. a possible immigration deal in the works? >> i think it's very possible despite the fact that marco rubio a key player here was sending out warnings before the sunday talk shows we are not there yet and trying to calm it down so they have to look at the

details and get the real legislation and nog nothing is done until it's all done. if they can get this piece of it, as chris was saying this is the big obstacle that hasn't been spoken of very often. if this comes together as it now apparently has, chuck schumer is optimistic. business also has a big interest in the h-1-v thing because they cannot retain these very highly skilled ph.d. and postgraduate students who are educated here and go back home because they cannot stay here. that is a big issue for business and it should be an issue for all of us. >> let's move on to "the daily beast." kathleen parker's piece on hillary clinton and front page piece yesterday on her. everyone sort of surmising what might happen. kathy le kathleen writes this. how could we fail to notice that the least safe places in the world are those that treat women

the worse? the hillary effect begun when she tossed that first pebble in beijing maybe recorded as one of the most transformational episodes as the evolution in human rights. there is a broad sense among the closest to the action we have reached a tipping point. really no turning back and barring some cataclysmic event it is still under way. still much more to do but as thousands wearing hush puppies millions around the world have embraced the revolution women are human beings too. i think the bigger point around this too they are incredibly powerful and do so much. >> we have hillary clinton speaking this week at our event. i think the point kathleen is trying to make we now have to really make sure that the hillary agenda that was put in place in the state department does really continue in the new

kerry era. i think john kerry said he is committed to these things. we have a new ambassador in kathy russell. i think the partnership between hillary clinton and the ambassador for women who was a former chief of staff, these women really were as kathleen parker say the jacques and awe team when it came to policy being implemented, pushed towards women. the whole idea that women form a critical plank of all foreign policy is essential to keep maintain with three women secretaries of state they have pushed it and it's been good. is it going to sustain is the question. >> andrea, you're just back from a trip with secretary kerry. >> interestingly. i spent my spring vacation, my spring break in iraq and afghanistan with john kerry. >> wow. >> oh, good. >> that is going to be a movie. >> he took an hour and it was a very unusual event with the

afghan women. women business owners talking to him about their individual problems. this was at the embassy. not only traditional women crafts businesses. one woman owns a trucking company with 500 trucks under her consignment. what did she say her problem was? between 32% and 36% of her spending has to pay protection for those trucks. the biggest problem is women under law in afghanistan still k cannot get credit. they have their businesses and education and many are resisting the male pressures on the education front. under the constitution they have the right to education but not the right to credit to start their businesses? kerry came back and on the plane talking about it and keeps talking about it. he knows he is not hillary clinton. he won't have the global presence on these issues but i think he is very committed to it

and i don't think he wants to let it lapse. i can't wait to come to new york for women of the world, tina. >> thanks, andrea, for doing that. >> joey e-mails me. >> it was actually me! >> the one day i watch "morning joe" i get hammered twice in an hour. i am just going to turn on portlandy. i think that might be safe. by the way, we watched -- >> he is not mad. >> no, he's not mad. he just liked portlandy better than us. >> fine. >> tonight. >> 8:00 p.m., it starts. you're going to have blood, sweat, and tiers and "up with people" in your first all in, right? >> we are going to get you bike. >> can i buy you a bike? can we present it to you? we would like to buy you a bike. like you don't trust the type of bike i would buy for you. >> is there a little concern for you? >> no, no. >> don't worry. tires won't pop! >> come on, man!

what are you going to do tonight? >> i don't know yet. >> you're going to be good at this. >> yeah, exactly. >> i would -- the best shows -- >> one thing on my radar screen, i think the cheating scandal coming out of the atlanta, they had indictments handed down on friday. they have until tuesday and the former superintendent of schools to turn themselves in. it is a remarkable story what happened there. the level of systemic cheating that was happening in the atlanta schools. >> frightening. >> had you pizza parties being thrown and principals and teachers there erasing tests. 35 educators. this is not isolated. if you scratch the surface in a lot of the cities in which high stakes testing has been introduced what you're seeing there is more and more evidence that this kind of thing is happening. >> so here is the problem. i think it's important to talk about. conservatives about myself and progressives feel the same way. we have figure out a way to put

benchmarks out there to see what schools are failing and succeeding. the problem is when you have teachers and administrators like this who -- >> went up the chain. >> it goes all the way up the chain. they understand they are going to be graded themselves on performance which i think they should, but this is the underside of that and it can get ugly. >> i believe -- i think we have gone too far the other extreme. you talk to teachers they say they spend all of their time on this testing and this awful kind of, you know, takes all of the inspiration and all of the kind of nurturing in the sense out of teaching. they feel they can't paws ause talk to kids because they are trying to make these metrics. >> those tests were the end of me in school. i can't stand them. i'm sorry. i don't know what they prove. >> magic number too. >> joe, you would have been completely medicated. >> i'm serious. >> had an i.v. drip!

>> you're exactly right. >> i think chris hayes got a perfect score. >> on what test? >> s.a.t. >> a.c.t.? >> no. >> you tested well? >> i did. i tested well. >> i just don't like tests. >> so many topics. . chris hayes, good luck. we are excited for you. this is going to be awesome. i'll buy him a bike if he wants it or not. a schwinn. >> one with a banana seat. the old ones. >> with the little -- >> tassel? >> streamers! >> andrea mitchell, thank you. >> watch us at 1:00 instead of the nats. we will give you the scores. >> graphics team here is amazing. >> that is good. that is good work by m.s.

graphics people. >> they are amazing. >> your affection? you're very good looking. andrea mitchell, what is coming up at 1:00? >> we have got tina brown coming to talk more about this. and richard engel from south korea on north korea. a lot more coming up. one of those core res. >> andrew, thank you very much. >> and baseball scores. esteemed doctor and powerful hollywood agent and the mayor of chicago, those are the emanuel brothers. i think they are incredible. >> they would give him a lob tome. >> up next as former reagan budget director, david stockman has a new book taking aim at the fed and wall street and everyone in between. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪

♪ i don't want any trouble. i don't want any trouble either. ♪ [ engine turns over ] you know you forgot to take your mask off, right? [ siren wailing in distance ] ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new beetle convertible. now every day is a top-down day. that's the power of german engineering.

many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors? it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat.

♪ truth in one free afternoon joining us now former michigan congressman and former reagan budget director david stockman. he is the author of the new book "the great deformation." the corruption of capitalism in america. tell me who you leave out in this book as not sort of a part of our great deformation. >> i list 20 people who have done great things including the creator of the fed and eisenhower who finally balanced the budget and dramatically cut defense and working with paul voccer. bill clinton for balancing the budget and sheila baer. she was the only one really to

stand up to the madness of these september 2008 panic. i call it blackberry paunic. instead wall street gang was running the treasury under paulison. and when we bail out wall street that was the end of capitalism and the end of rectitude in america. i don't think we it turn around from where we are. >> i don't think people have given proper credence to what sheila baer did and the fortitude to speak out given everything you're describing and the years and years of men, i'm sorry, running the place and running it into the ground. >> utait's always men.

>> especially when it's incompetent men and i don't mind saying this this morning, but sheer is sheila baer in the financial position and policy positions for decades and knew what she was talking about at the fdic. kneel running things and shoved her out of way. neil was a space telescope engineer from california who had some small time job in the san francisco office of goldman sachs. paulison went to the treasury and took volunteers. the next thing we know he is the space telescope engineer is the czar of the financial markets in america and sheila baer has her nose on the glass looking in. >> what was the alternative to the bailouts?

i felt you don't give banks 700 billion with three pages to be used in any way to justify anything but what was the alternative at that time? >> the normal bankruptcy machinery because the melt down was entirely within the canyons of wall street. >> we are told if you went through the normal procedures of bankruptcy and people will show up and atm machines wouldn't work and -- >> that's why this raised so much. >> explain what happened if president bush would have said and congress would have said you know what? they made reckless decisions the past decade and they have to pay in the free marketplace with those reckless decisions. >> it started with aig. they were not a contagious economic disease. you could have taken the holding company to the bankrupt court and where all of the bad paper was written, the so-called false swaps. if you went to bankruptcy, the

20 big banks of the world would have have lost $40 to 50 billion. those who bought that had balance sheets of 20 trillion so you're talking about a 1% hip. could have happened. barclays and jpmorgan and bank of america the rest of them. the first point. aig was not a contagion. goldman and jp, repo and commercial paper, they could have gone down and reorganized the pieces and parts and talent at came out of there would have lived for another day to put out a shingle. >> let the market do what the market has done for 200 years. >> the third thing i think is important no payroll would have been met because the main street banks didn't own this these toxic securities. the cds and cdo's. they were in the balance sheets

of these big hedge funds parading as investment banks in walk stre wall street. the main street banks were safe. the money market funds were 3.8 trillion in size. the only thing that left the money market industry was 60 billion dollars, a couple of percent. what really happened is money went from one account to another from so-called prime accounts to government accounts. it's the only thing that happened. so no user would have lost money but why was this such a big stake? because when it went out of the prime accounts that could own commercial paper, all of a sudden, general electric couldn't easily fund its commercial paper. its interest rates went up like it's supposed to in the free market. guess what? jeff immelt says i'm in trouble here and interest rates are going up, do something. they froze the commercial paper money. >> jeff immelt was a good friend

of mine. >> i understand but i'm an equal opportunity. >> the gat thing about focus is disappoint everybody. >> let's be clear about this. they froze a paulison froze the commercial market right there within hours of the call between immelt and paulison. therefore they were able to continue to use commercial paper. >> in all fairness, if you take the opposite view and look what has happened in europe and how they have struggled with their banks the last 12 to 24 months we talk about a bailout. the reality also is that these banks paid back all of the ney and there was an interest -- american people, the government, made money on. an unusual way to make profit but there was a profit made. there are those that would take the complete opposite view of yours that, indeed, the pedestrian investor and

pedestrian american would have been affected in a more harmful way than perhaps you pontificate this morning. i understand your point about the size of the balance sheets and the comparative hit and how small the comparative hit may be but could that trickle down effect not be bigger and larger than perhaps you suggest in the book? >> i think the contrary. the average american saver has been totally destroyed as a result of bernanke's to drive interest banks to zero. able to pay back the tarp only because the fed has crushed interest rates for savers. on cds you get 40 basis points today. therefore they have earned an artificial fed gifted spread of tens of billions a quarter which they then used to rebuild their equity and pay back their t.a.r.p. the t.a.r.p. was paid back out of the hides of fixed income,

retired americans and savers. and it's a fiscal policy, enormous import. if you put that up for a vote in congress, let's crush all of the middle class savers, let's deny them even a cent hardly from their hard-earned savings so that we can transfer it to the banks so they can get better and claim the t.a.r.p. work. >> was it not a fiction in some ways -- don't get me wrong. i take the opposite view for a moment. can an argument be made that we found ourselves in a challenge we found ourselves because people believe in the fiction and they thought they had more than what they actually had? because housing prices were probably overvalued? the market may have been overvalued and if you look where we are from the crisis four years later market of return now at record highs. >> we have to wrap this up, guys. >> four years later, we lost 6 million middle class full-time jobs and got 1 million back, 15% recovery. four years later, the stock

market has recovered 115%. all of it back. why? because the two are divorced. the real economy is failing and it's in trouble. the fed is inflating a third bubble by this zero interest policy and by this insane purchase of $85 billion of government debt a month, telling washington don't do anything about the deficit, go out and have a party, bury yourself in debt. the policy today is if you hate your children, you'll love what washington is doing because they are burying them in debt. >> put that on a bumper sticker! >> david stockman, thank you. >> tina, thank you as well. >> scary stuff. still ahead, what can baseball teach us about god? john sexton will be here with his provocative new book. we will be right back.

if youthen this willbrids arbe a nice surprise. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max come. c-max go. c-max give a c max has more passenger volume than competitor prius v and we haven't even mentioned... c-max also gets better mpg. say hi to the super fuel efficient ford c-max hybrid. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees.

♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

♪ he ain't heavy because he's my brother ♪ >> while dr. ezekiel emanuel says he is the best looking of

his brothers. what can i say? that is the truth. with the spark cash card from capital one... boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. can i get the smith contract, please? thank you. that's three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put 'em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris' small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase every day. great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. read back the chicken's testimony, please. "buk, buk, bukka!" [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. told you i'd get half.

what's in your wallet? [ sneezing ] she may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec®. powerful allergy relief for adults and kids six years and older. zyrtec®. love the air. this time around it's gonna be different. this time around you're finally gonna lose the weight. like i did. on weight watchers. like she did. ♪ she got the power and she did. ♪ you've got the power this time around it's gonna be different. cause people lose 5x more weight following the weight watchers approach than trying on their own. and you can too. the new weight watchers 360 program. join for free and check out the new risk free guarantee today. because it works.

since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes

at ducktherapy.com. ♪ ♪ the kids are all right >> who was the most difficult? was it ari? >> without a doubt. >> you get in a lot of fights? >> aurie always tried to pick a fight? >> we had bunk beds and zeke had a bunk bed next to us. jumped into the bed and crib to watch the baby jump. >> you beat him up a little? >> no, just watch him jump in the bed. >> it's weird. he still sleeps in a crib. that bad? oh, well. that was the chicago mayor rahm

emanuel last year talking about his brothers on our show. joining us now is rahm's older brother, former white house adviser f adviser, ezekiel emanuel. what a wonderful family it is. i've heard a lot about trips you all take together. still now today? >> yes. >> so close. >> we are very close. over the weekend, i think talked to ari three or four times. >> how is he doing? is he okay? i'm worried about him. >> worried about ari? please. talk about the ultimate survivor. >> you have children that are competitive and blow apart and go in different directions. it seems you three high achievers have become closer. >> the bigger you get the closer you get. >> why? what is the secret sauce there? how did that happen?

>> i think actually one thing my parents had us sleep in the same bedroom until 10 and in israel a few summers not only sleeping in the same place we played for each other for months on end at the beach and i think that actually helped and then we also did very different things. we weren't directly competitive with each other. that was good. >> so are you the oldest? >> i am. >> did you -- >> the serious one. >> you were the serious one. did you guys talk about what you wanted to be when you grew up? >> i was forced to be the doctor because i was good in science and a good student and i could sit still for more than five seconds at a stretch. >> ari could not. >> you guys were talking about adhd. talk about the original kid. he was one of the first kids on ritalin actually. >> i'm sure he doesn't appreciate that. >> he does! >> okay. >> was he actually on ritalin? >> in the '60s he was one the first kids when they really

discovered it he was on it and it helped him enormously. had he terrible dyslexia. >> do you agree what we are saying over the past 20 years? >> over medication? >> over medication. >> there is no doubt there is overmedication but people -- kids like ari certainly benefited from it. >> was he hyperactive? i had a hyperactive brother. >> he defines that category and still does, yes. >> talk about your family. how did your family encourage you guys staying together, working together? or is that something you as the older brother took on yourself? >> one of the things rahm did just after he went into the white house under bill clinton was to say, we are getting together for thanksgiving because we had not actually all been getting together and every year, we are going to get together and it's going to rotate among the three brothers and he insisted on that. i think once we all sort of got a certain level of achievement, ari, with his company, rahm in

the white house and me rising in academia, i think we sort of settled down into our skin and became much more collaborative. and, you know, the other good thing is our actual children love each other and e-mail, call, travel together. >> there was friction between y'all at times, was there not? how could there not be? >> internal competition? including the green peppers on the salad who got the last one. the most important issue on the night. >> whoever got the last one? >> it wasn't consistent. whoever got their fork there the fastest got it. >> what it like in your hometown with your brother the mayor? >> i try not to visit. i'm going on thursday and friday this week. we are actually doing a bunch of stuff. >> his name is in every taxi. >> when i leave the airport, i learn who is the mayor! yeah. it has been terrific. the one thing i say is

internally they are my stiffest critics but also my best supporters whenever i need them, they are always there. >> harold? >> your parents, obviously, did a phenomenal job ve to your own kids and you you see the next g. you talk about the cousins are close. >> you know the famous phillip larkin poem about your parents f-ing you up, and then you do it to your kids and add a few things. i've done a few things. read to my kids at night. make sure that they work hard. make sure that they don't take any defeat as final. just get up, brush yourself off and keep going, because hard work is probably the most important thing that my parents caught us. it's not -- i say this over and over again. when we graduated from high school, there is no one who would have said those emanuel boys, they're going to be so great. >> you say in the book that everybody looked at you guys as

average. >> average. ari was a good athlete, but no state champion. i was start, but hardly a walking encyclopedia. rahm graduated in the middle of the class. one of the things that distinguished us is we take our limited natural talents and we work like dogs. that my father certainly put us in. just hard work. just keep going. and never take a defeat as anything other than got to work harder. >> we actually -- mika and i -- you tell your daughters that. i tell my children that because we were just talking about s.a.t. scores before. very average s.a.t. scores. >> mine were horrible. >> people ask what's the secret? i say, you know, i've been working probably on average 15 hours a day, 16 hours a day. you do that over enough decades, i'm dead serious, it catches up to you. hard work overcomes so many other things. >> it also feels good. >> so one of the things is when i graduated college, i was not a

very good writer. i was not at all. i spent six years working diligently at my writing and was helped by many people along the way, including my roommate in college, my mentor in oxford, and rick hertzburg when he was at the new republic. who really helped me and kept pounding away. you have good ideas and you're a crappy writer. work at it. but it takes time and you have to be willing to keep it up. >> did i say 15 hours a day? i work five hours a day. >> rapid fire. first of all, why did you write this book? and were your brothers okay with it? >> well, everyone can blame maureen dowd, because she kept saying what did mom put in the cereal? and then i also began just writing stories for my kids. i wanted them to know. >> and what are you working on now? >> well, my massive online open course has just started on health policy to educate everyone about the american health care is. i think i have 15,000, 16,000 people taking the course. >> wow.

that's so cool. >> so what are you doing with this course? you're teaching about the health care system? >> the problems. i'm explaining the affordable care act and making predictions about how it's going to impact the system, and it just began. >> can i ask you this -- >> it's free, everyone can go on. >> will a conservative who opposed -- i'm dead serious. opposed obama care, will they still want to come on and not see it as just somebody who's -- >> pr'g it? >> yeah. >> we explained the problems and why we needed some solutions. we explain the affordable care act. it's the law of the land, you have to know it. we explain with a variety of people what's going to happen. >> that's really good. >> what's going to happen to capitalists, what's going to happen to drug companies. >> what is it? >> coursira. i love doing it. and then i'm writing a book about the american health

system. as soon as we're done with this book tour, i start writing. >> "the brothers emanuel." dr. zeke emanuel, thank you so much. still ahead, chuck todd and sam stein join the conversation. we'll be right back. as your life and career change, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust your retirement plan along the way. rethink how you're invested. and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity ira has a wide range of investment choices to help you fine-tune your personal economy. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity no-fee ira.

a brand new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. transit fares!

as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. no? oh, right. you're thinking of the 1.6 million daily customer care interactions xerox handles. or the 900 million health insurance claims we process. so, it's no surprise to you that companies depend on today's xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. which is...pretty much what we've always stood for. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

on tomorrow's show, fresh off tonight's goldman sachs 10,000 small businesses graduation, which we will be at, arianna huffington will be . tori burch. and valerie jarrett. >> i like him. he's a good friend of mine. >> and new signs that universal background checks -- some republicans are calling them a bridge too far. we're back in a moment. everyone's retirement dream is different; how we get there is not. we're americans. we work. we plan. ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. to help you retire your way, with confidence. ♪ that's what ameriprise financial does.

that's what they can do with you. let's get to work. ameriprise financial. more within reach. the act of soaring across an ocean in a three-hundred-ton rocket doesn't raise as much as an eyebrow for these veterans of the sky. however, seeing this little beauty over international waters is enough to bring a traveler to tears. we're putting the wonder back into air travel,

one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. to try on these amazing depend silhouette briefs. oh, it's cheryl burke! who's this guy? security. cheryl, hi! i know you don't need one but would you try on the depend silhouette for charity? right now? under this? why not? for charity? now's the perfect time, cause with soft fabric and waistband, the best protection looks, fits and feels just like underwear. even doing the chacha. whaaat? ok, america. cheryl burke tried the depend silhouette. get a free sample so you can too.

good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. you need to get up and out of bed now. >> stay where you are. >> let's take a live look at new york city. back with us on set, mark halperin, and in washington, andrea mitchell. that play looked terrible. it looks like it might be career-ending. >> are we showing this? >> no, just reaction. >> just the aftermath. >> so take us through this, willie. >> well, this was in the duke-louisville regional final. completely a routine play. duke player knocks down a jump shot. if you were watching it live, the first indication you had was when they took what they called a hero shot. the kid who made the shot from

duke. after he made a shot, he started padding his chest, it looked like he was going to cry. i thought he was having a heart problem. then they cut away. there was another louisville player down in the middle of the court, not the one who was injured. it turned out this young kid, sophomore kevin ware, had just come down awkwardly on his left leg. we learned later that the bone had come through the skin. >> not just a little. significantly. >> it was six inches out, according to rick pitino. pitino was standing over his young player. he said he felt sick to his stomach. he said there were reports that some of the kids at the bench were sick to their stomach. these are his teammates reacting to what they witnessed. remarkable thing is rick pitino said they were all whenning over him and fa -- weeping over him, and this kid ware was saying go win the game. the training staff covered the leg with a towel to prevent

anyone else from seeing it. he was carried off on a stretcher. it was a close game at that point. rick pitino brought the regional championship trophy to the hospital. they say it could be a year before he's fully healed. he'll probably red shirt next year and play two years after that. >> but they can fix it. >> they compared him to some other athletes who have gone on to have good careers afterward. >> and others that haven't. >> i think cbs sports deserves credit. they handled this really well. they showed a replay before they knew it was wrorng before they knew it was close. >> you know it's bad when joe theismann starts tweeting. i understand. it's horrible. >> 19 years old. this kid has a chance. hopefully youth is actually on his side. it's hard to watch. >> go big blue, baby. >> on a positive note.

>> michigan. >> on their way to the final four. first of all, the sweet 16 game against kansas. to be down by five with less than 30 seconds. to find our way back. trey burke wouldn't stop hitting threes. our big man mcgrath, freshman. you got to love him. you got to love our chances. >> can you believe i picked wichita state? can you believe that? >> when i looked through your bracket, it jumps right out at you. >> let's show my predictions. could you believe? >> these are four great teams. four great teams. >> a lot of people said you were crazy on selection sunday. >> they did on selection sunday. but i called it from the beginning. >> let's get to some news. really interesting different stories we're going to start headlines with. and then we'll get to politics. in texas, police are still searching for a motive behind the murders of texas district attorney mike mclelland and his wife on saturday. mclelland was shot multiple times inside his home with what

officials believe was an assault rifle. the local mayor says it does not appear to be a random act. now elected officials are receiving added security. the murders come just two months after the brazen shooting death of an assistant prosecutor in the same county. lawmakers say there are no early indications the shootings are connected, but according to "the dallas morning news," suspicion is likely to be increased in the arian brotherhood of texas, a prison gang that the d.a.'s office had prosecuted in the area. >> there's a series of officials that have been gunned down. and after his predecessor was gunned down, he went out and held a press conference and said we're going to continue this, and now he's been gunned down as well. and his wife. >> also, this is on the front page of "the new york times." this is an incredible story. stunning new data from the cdc showing an increase of hyperactivity among school age children. the report states an estimated

6.4 million children between the ages of 4 and 17, 11% of all children, have been diagnosed with adhd. that's a 53% increase over the past decade. however, this information has many doctors concerned about misdiagnosed cases and the potential for overmedicating kids. there's two different issues there and both extremely dangerous. about 2/3 of all of those diagnosed with adhd are taking prescription medication like ritalin or aderol and these are rolled substances. they're really strong drugs. some studies show once kids are on that, it opens up the possibility of other types of substance abuse later. psychotic behavior. it's scary stuff. >> you know, i've got two older boys. >> uh-huh. >> i started seeing in the early 1990s, doctors started -- pediatricians started trying to pass out ritalin like candy.

and then you had some people in schools. any time any child had any problems -- you know, the kid is 6, 7, 8. said oh, they're adhd? they need to take ritalin. the long-term impact is always -- they look at your child, and we had this happen, because we moved around a good bit as i was doing the law school and other places. a couple minutes later, you know, they probably should be on ritalin. well joey is sitting there reading the guttenberg bible. i mean, it's unbelievable how quickly they try to dispense that stuff. and of course, the infamous quote, it's safer than aspirin, for aderol and everything else. i'm telling you, i've seen it in college kids. >> i'm seeing it in high school. >> doctors who have college kids. we have a nation of children who are addicted to prescription drugs and they're dying. i don't want to give the

specifics on certain college campuses. i will just tell you one college campus that i know of, there is a fraternity that had a pledge class, five kids have died of prescription drug overdoses. five. in the past four years. this is the great untold story. "the new york times" did a wonderful sunday story a couple weeks ago. the untold story. you go to major college campuses across america and kids are dying of drug overdoses, either aderol or oxycontin. >> and then move on to different drugs. and a lot of these drugs they take -- i know it's happening in high school, because i hear my daughters talking about it and i'm sort of in this world with one of my kids. but these kids takthis sff for a.d.d. and adhd on test day and they get used to medicating for academic events. it's become part of their life.

>> what happens is they will take the aderol to get up and they'll stay up for a day, day and a half, few days. >> study. >> and then to come down, they'll take the oxycontin. what aderol does is it goes off the cliff and whatever you're on, that's what you ride all the way down. you know what the kids end up doing? you know how they die? this is happening all over america and i'm stunned more people are not talking about it. they just stop breathing in their sleep. it's happening all the time in college campuses across this -- >> well, because they abuse these drugs and they get them to -- they get the good grades. they get the payoff from them. it's amazing. >> it starts with doctors prescribing it, and the bottom line of this "new york times" story, and thank you, "new york times," for doing this again, for talking about it again, it started back in the late 1980s when they started pushing ritalin on every kid. every kid. i never saw anything like it. and i remember at the time going what are they trying to do,

raise a generation of drug addicts? 20 years later, this is where we are. and it's happening. >> 53% increase in ten years. think about that. >> you know, i grew up -- just to be really blunt, i grew up playing music and i had friends that were involved in drugs, and one of my close friends who ended up dying of a drug overdose, said he had done everything. had done everything. i remember him breaking down crying to me. he said you know what? i can handle it all. but these pills, they're the devil. they're going to get me in the end. they're going to kill me in the end. and they did. and they did. why more people aren't talking -- and again, it's happening at college campuses today. >> yeah. i'm very nervous about it. these numbers should give everyone pause. and doctors need to think twice about prescribing. >> it's just instantaneous.

>> it's instant reaction. >> there's a quote from the piece you guys are talking about, from the professor at harvard medical school. where it says there's a tremendous push where if the kid's behavior is thought to be "unnormal," it's suddenly pathological. >> who is that? the harvard doctor. >> that is the diagnosis. i wonder how steven jobs -- i'm serious. i wonder how steven jobs sat in his chair in the second grade. and i wonder what impact -- how the world would have been different if a lot of these great thinkers throughout the past several hundred years had had doctors instead of given ritalin say, you know what? they're a little fidgety and hard to control, so let's just give them some ritalin and then give them some aderol. >> so the other side of this is -- i did a couple of several part series on this for cbs on the increase and diagnosis of bipolar disorder and all these

labels that you can give kids, the increase over the past two decades, because they're actually looking at these children and giving them a diagnosis, and some experts would argue that these children will go on a bad road if they're not treated. and will end up in jail. the children with severe bipolar disorder, or severe adhd and need the treatment. i think that's a fair argument. the rope that the parent has to navigate. >> i guarantee people watching today that have kids, and e-mail us in if you will. we don't usually do that. i will guarantee you -- my two older children are 25 and 22. i will guarantee you that parents with children in their 20s had the same experience that i had. all over america, where they take their children in and doctors and some educators are trying to push ritalin on their kids. it started when they were 5, 6, 7, 8. and this is what we get 20, 25

years later. so i understand there are some children that -- >> need treatment. >> need treatment. but i also understand that the medical profession has been negligent over the past 25 years, 30 years. children that are a little antsy in their seats. >> something's out of control, certainly. all right, let's turn to politics and we'll go to gun control. it appears any piece of gun control legislation that could make it to the senate will be watered down from the president's initial proposal. pro-gun activists are focusing on universal background checks. yesterday, republican senator jeff flake, he cast doubt on the upcoming senate vote. take a listen. >> we do need to strengthen the

background system, but universal background checks is a bridge too far for most of us. >> why is that? why shouldn't we have to go through tsa check points, law-abiding citizens have to do that, what's wrong with law-abiding gun owners -- what do we have to hide? what's wrong with going through an expanded background check? >> the paper work requirements alone would be sisgnificant. i think there would be issues. so i think universal background checks, we can scale back and still make significant progress by strengthening our background check system without going too far. >> all right. there are now five republican senators threatening to filibuster any legislation that imposes additional gun restrictions. democrats would need 60 votes to overcome the likely filibuster. senator chuck schumer, however, is still optimistic there can be compromise when it comes to universal background checks. >> i'm working very hard with both democrats and republicans,

pro-nra and anti-nra people to come up with a background check bill that will be acceptable to 60 senators and be very strong and get the job done. it's very hard. we're working hard. and i'm very hopeful that we can get this passed. >> dana millbank writes in "the washington post," obama on guns, too little, too late. obama's failure to strike while the iron was hot offers a lesson in presidential leadership that goes beyond gun control. on almost every topic, washington seems only to act these days in response to crisis, if it acts at all. obama erred in trying to use newtown to build support for his positions on taxes, energy and immigration and he compounded the error by sending joe biden off to conduct a study, an unnecessary delay when solution were obvious. once the president took his foot off the accelerator, no other action, not even michael bloomberg's ad campaign, could

maintain the momentum. wow. and of course, mark kelly has been obviously an outspoke advocate on gun control legislation. and he has been going around and buying guns and showing how long it takes to fill out a background check. i think it was like five minutes and 36 seconds. just if you care. if you can watch five minutes and 36 seconds for a gun. >> so i'm hearing behind the scenes there's still a gun that's being worked on on universal background checks. but yesterday, it sounded like it might be dead. >> they're still trying to figure out some kind of compromise. they've got to get something through the senate. even if they do, the house is going to be a real challenge. but you still hear from a lot of republicans. they'd like to do something. not just the public opinion polls. not just michael bloomberg's money. not even just the events -- the tragic events in connecticut. a lot of republicans see this on policy terms as something they're willing to deal with the they can find a compromise. i think basically, they still

need a republican partner. coming up on "morning joe," the church of baseball. on this opening day, we'll talk to john sexton on the parallels between religion and america's favorite pastime. and up next, chuck todd and sam stein join the conversation. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> bill. >> well, it is april. april fool's, too. let's talk about washington, d.c. we had a lot of fog early. it's beginning to lift and burn off. how cool is that picture? almost looks like a forest fire, but that's just the low clouds slowly burning off from the top down. you see the top of the washington monument and the highway below. looks like the dense fog is lifting around the capitol. as we go towards the mid morning, towards the lower chesapeake, the fog should be out of here. thankfully no airport delays to deal with. let's talk about what else is out there. strong cold front rolling through great lakes. this one means business. a lot of cold air behind it. we went from rain showers to snow showers in the buffalo erie

areas. this has origins up in can dasm ho -- canada. look at these windchills. it's six right now in minneapolis. they're going to play a baseball game outdoors in minneapolis today. the twins versus the tigers. the windchill will be, if they're lucky, in the 20s. most likely the teens throughout the entire game. chicago also has their opening today. the white sox. windchill now is 22. both of those cities, even with sunshine, will be lucky to get up into the mid to upper 30s today. the southern half of the country, you're plenty warm from dallas to orlando to phoenix. but we are going to deal with rain in the days ahead. we'll get a good soaking from dallas through the southeast. for those suffering from this latest cold blast, this hopefully should be it. there are signs we'll get much warmer in the days ahead, including solution as we welcome

the chill to the start of april. you're watching "morning joe." my mother made the best toffee in the world. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly! [ male announcer ] bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on.

bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

♪ but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need ♪ >> when was that picture? we look actually happy. >> happier times. >> simpler times. >> behind the music. where is that? >> i don't know. >> somebody help me out.

where is that? >> oh, boca. carnegie hall. >> joining us now from washington, host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. >> oh, he's great. he is great. i love him. >> and white house correspondent for "the huffington post," sam stein. >> not so much. >> chuck todd. >> i love sam! hey, chuck, really quickly. the nationals start today. are you a nationals fan or are you a marlins fan? >> well, actually, i grew up a dodgers fan. but my son is an obsessive nationals fan. >> so you are, too. >> loves bryce harper. so what am i going to do? >> you're a nationals fan. >> i am now living in a town that actually has professional baseball. and one that may actually go to the world series. so i'm now a season ticketholder. go nats. i'm on the bandwagon. i'll drive if i have to. >> sam stein, we're going to fenway a lot this year, buddy,

you and me. >> i hope so. >> right there. >> is it the fight for fourth? i'm just curious. >> the fight for fifth. >> let me tell you something, chuck. tonight or this afternoon, it's personal. and this time it's for fifth place. at yankee stadium. so chuck, incredible job yesterday. you changed television history. you did. a lot to talk about. what was your biggest takeaway from "meet the press" yesterday? >> well, it's the whole everybody tiptoeing around marco rubio, right? this whole how marco rubio is the lynch pin to getting immigration reform signed. he's not the lynchpin to getting it passed in the senate. they can find 60 votes. but marco rubio is how you get to 75 votes. and once you get to 75 votes in the senate, that's how you get it passed in the house. and how are you going to get an immigration bill that has a path to citizenship passed in the house? 75 votes in the senate. so it was just fascinating to watch the tiptoeing around marco

rubio, whether it was chuck schumer, whether it was jeff flake. and the question i have is rubio knows the power that he has here. how does he use that power? >> well, i was going to say marco rubio knows that he is going to be running, if he runs for president, in the iowa caucus state. that is reflexively -- i won't say anti-immigrant, but they are certainly anti-immigrant reform in that caucus. it goes back 20 years that way. so does he use that power to actually make the bill more conservative, make it more like jeb bush's approach of a path to legalization instead of -- yeah, path to legalization instead of a path to citizenship? >> well, don't forget jeb bush is now -- isn't he already ahead of his book again? the book he said -- so i think they're all -- i can't imagine how rubio will be able to sign on to anything that doesn't have a path to citizenship. but i think the question is how difficult is that path.

is it ten years, is it 12 years. it certainly seems to me that everything is lining up, right? you even have jeff flake talking about how there is a way to measure border security. and, in fact, they have a successful model in one half of the state, in the yuma part of the state. they know what it looks like. so the fact that they have agreed on what the metric of border security looks like, which then is the trigger to starting the clock on the path to citizenship. seems to me that we are getting very close to all this. so i just -- i'll be shocked if rubio supports something that doesn't happen an eventually path to citizenship. how does he run for president? you talk about the iowa caucuses. how do you carry the state of colorado? >> mark halperin? >> sam ran a topic on gay marriage. was i wrong to be stunned by jeff flake saying he thought it was totally is going to happen, that the republican nominee

someday would be for gay marriage? >> you know, it's a question of timing, right? will it happen in 2016? i'm not sure. we actually did a piece in this where we talked the some of the come pain managers for the last couple republican presidential candidates, and universally, they all thought that it would happen, it's just a matter of which cycle it happens. i am surprised in some respects because i don't think the social conservative movement -- i don't think they've gone away. i still think they have power within the republican party. i think they're going to be a determining force, especially in the iowa caucus and it remains to be seen how much pain it will inflict on a candidate who endorses same-sex marriage. but at the same time, it seems pretty clear that the arc of history is bending in one direction and that a lot of republicans are getting on that train as well. so, you know, i'm a little surprised as you are that flake said it but i'm not surprised that it's going to happen. >> so let me talk to you, mark. chuck todd, you as well. you guys have obviously been following presidential campaigns for quite some time.

we're talking about immigration reform and gay marriage here. and these are two areas obviously that the mainstream media, that elites not just in the democratic party, but also a lot in the republican party support. and yet i wonder how many of these people that support it from washington or new york, or from state capitals across the country have ever campaigned in western iowa, have ever campaigned in south carolina, in the greenville-spartanburg area. have ever campaigned against north florida. have ever campaigned in the very spots -- i'm throwing this around because i've been lecturing my republicans for some time about winning the philly suburbs. >> the guns, too. >> winning in iowa. or winning in the i-4 corridor. let's reverse this now. what candidate can win in western iowa, can win in the greenville-spartanburg area. can win in north florida if they come out and support gay marriage nationally and support immigration reform.

>> well, let me say it this way. can you have these positions but then be a stronger advocate on the life issue? you know, my theory has been on this, what you're going to see is maybe you will see movement among a lot of republicans. and frankly, when you look at the polling on this, joe, the biggest movers on gay marriage support is not among the predictable groups on the left or even in the senate. it's among southerners who have moved 20 points in favor of it in the last five years. they're not at majority yet, but it's in the 40s. so it's no longer a 20/80 issue in some of the base conservative areas. >> but we're talking about a very small electorate, the people that i always would highlight, underline the star republicans that voted in every

primary. they're not there. and they're not going to be there for some time on either issue. >> but i guess can you paper over this on gay marriage and immigration by going harder on abortion? >> you make it a state rights issue. that's the middle ground. >> i've always taken the states rights issue on gay marriage since 1994. that said, gay marriage -- and i'm thinking marco rubio here as well. if marco wants to run in 2016, i'm telling you this immigration reform, path to legalization, it's a very heavy lift for him in the republican primary. >> well, the business community is behind it. if other primary republicans vote for it. mika said guns as well. i think that's part of the same group. to me, though, these issues are a bit of a sideshow. even the nomination. it's the economy. it's things like what's their attitude toward big banks, social security, and health care? that's where i think if you're thinking about 2016, that's where i think the real terrain is going to be.

because a lot of people in the party who care about these cultural issues care more about economics and want to see a party that's less about washington and the establishment. a little bit more populist. that's where i think rubio is in more trouble. >> we talk about it all the time. it's snowing on january 3rd. it's two degrees in des moines. and in western iowa. and you have got to get home schoolers out. you've got to get evangelicals out. you know, i found very quickly in 1994 you didn't organize by neighborhoods. because nobody's in the neighborhoods. i organize by churches. >> the peach tree ranch. he went from peach tree ranch to peach tree ranch for the conservatives. don't forget rick santorum took that momentum in iowa to not win

the nomination. >> the last five nominees didn't win iowa. >> you can do this without iowa. it could fracture the party for a while, but maybe this fracture -- maybe you go through it in 2014, and by 2016 when it comes to marriage, it's behind you. that's why i keep coming back to abortion. i think you can unite -- that that ends up being what the crutch is for some of these republicans, which is yes, the country and i am moving on marriage, but i have not moved on the life issue and you'll see maybe more advocacy for what happened in north dakota last week. >> you know, mika, so i can aggravate everybody, i've aggravated my republican party for years that by saying on some issues they need to -- not find the middle ground, but be more moderate tempermentally. this rush to marriage equality among the electorate is at least among the republican base, it's

a mirage. it's a lot of wishful thinking from people in manhattan and this is my take. i could be totally wrong. but i think there has been over the past month or two sort of this tidal wave coming from national media saying things are changing overnight. they don't change overnight. >> i thought it was interesting, the conversation that the supreme court justices had on this issue and what they put out there. it was hedging. it was not -- i agree with you. i think that there are definitely some conversations that are too awkward to have, but that parts of this country aren't ready for. chuck todd, thank you very much. we'll see you in "the daily rundown." sam, stay with us. up next, baseball is road to god. author john sexton explains how america's pastime helps us on the search for the sacred in our

everyday lives. keep it right here on "morning joe." ♪ ♪ no two people have the same financial goals. pnc works with you to understand yours and help plan for your retirement. visit a branch or call now for your personal retirement review. bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles

or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button? email marketing from constant contact reaches people in a place they're checking every day -- their inbox. and it gives you the tools to create custom emails that drive business. it's just one of the ways constant contact can help you grow your small business. sign up for your free trial today at constantcontact.com/try.

38 past the hour. joining us now, the president of new york university, john sexton, who is the author of "baseball as a road to god:

seeing beyond the game." and it is great to have you in the studio today. >> great to have you here. nyu. >> i like the cover. >> it's a great cover. you say that doris has been coming -- you've been teaching this class for 12 years and you've had some pretty big names in there in attendance. >> well, it started 12 years ago when a student came up to me and said i find baseball boring. why do you find it interesting? and i said to the young man, listen, give me the right to assign you 12 books, write a paper on each and by the end, you'll realize baseball is the road to god. he did. we had a great time doing it together. and the next year, dozens of students were lined up for this directed research. so i created the course. about five years ago, tom oliphant joined me and we have a ball. >> oh, my gosh. tom actually helped write this with you, right? >> well, he pushed me to do it as did doris and pete.

i said okay, well then you've got to be kind of my therapist. >> right. >> so explain, how is baseball a road to god? >> well, baseball teaches us to live in a timeless world. it teaches us to live slow, to notice the small things. so my dad taught me, for example, don't fall the ball. follow the fielders. watch what's happening. notice. notice that a count is different. a 1-0 count is different from a 2-1 count. it depends on whether runners are on base. so it teaches us the meditative, the skills that we've lost. >> so you and your dad went to watch, what, a yankees -- were you yankees fans? >> god forbid. this is the 1950 this is brooklyn. you can hear that accent. >> the dodgers. >> there was only one friend.

although my best friend dougie and i were the only two dodgers fans in our neighborhood. >> really? >> we would be ritually beaten each fall by the yankee fans who would say to us, admit that berra is better than kemp. we were like the christian martyrs taking poundings. >> but your dad would take you out -- >> one of the great bonding elements. as doris talks about in her book "wait until next year" and tom in his book. it's a bonding moment between father-son, father-daughter, brother-brother. >> we've got basketball back in brooklyn. what can we do to get major league baseball back in brooklyn? possible? >> i don't think it's possible. i think we've got our two teams for new york now. and the dodgers are gone forever. those ones on the west coast, they're not the dodgers. >> are they dead to you? >> those dodgers are dead to me. i made that transformation. you read the chapter on conversion.

and i had to go through this anxiety in 1969 when my son was born. what was i going to do? i knew giving him a team was more important than giving him a religion. and today, of course, having been baptized, he's been bar mitzvahed, so he's changed his religion. but he's still a yankee fan. i had to make that choice. >> so you made the choice for the yankees in the year of the amazing mets? >> that's right. >> who becomes a yankees fan in '69? >> a '50s catholic who cares about tradition. i wanted to give my son something with substance. >> i suppose you became a giants fan too with joe willy with the jets. >> no, no, no. in fact, i brought my son home -- he was born in january of 1969 and i brought him home wrapped in a jets towel. >> good for you. >> that's nice. >> what have you learned from

your students teaching this class? is there anything that comes to mind? >> the wonderful thing is whether they're baseball fans or not, whether they know anything about religion, how much they yearn to see meaning in life and what we do. >> sam stein, when you go to college, sam, this is a course -- i recommend you go to nyu. >> you want to take this course. >> there was actually was a baseball course at dartmouth. i didn't take it because it was so packed. i have a question for the professor. obviously there's a ton of religious symbolism in the way baseball is depicted in the movies. i have "the natural." you have "field of dreams." one of things i was struck by is there's always a hot prospect that seems touched by god. he's blessed with all the tools. we depict him as a savior. today it would be mike trout. mickey mantle, for instance. do we do that in other sports or is that a unique thing to

baseball? >> it's certainly not unique to baseball. we're in a celebrity society, so you see it with number one draft choices in the sports other than baseball. the interesting thing about baseball, though, is that it teaches us about failure. the best hitter to ever play the game failed six times out of ten. so it kind of captures the doctrine of original sin. baseball has this teaching capacity that other sports don't. because it's observable. and it's observable in slow motion. and what some people find is boring is actually a strength of the game, and that's where you see the meaningful connections between baseball and religious life. >> so before we go, you're wearing violet. nyu, of course. doing incredible nationwide. but i'm thinking this easter weekend, a prophet sometimes not even respected in his own hometown. you have "the new york times" writing articles about scratching and clawing at home while you're building the brand across the world. how do you balance those two

things? >> well, you balance by caring about one thing, and that is excellence. and i'm proud of the fact that we're a university that encourages dissent. i start off with my students in each of the four courses i teach, and i'm the only university teach fler the world that teaches a full faculty schedule. even in the course "baseball is a road to god," what i want them to learn is a healthy disrespect of authority. >> you're teaching them that. >> that's what a good university does. >> and communicate so effectively. the best professors i had were able to capture your imagination and draw you in. it's how you communicate. it's been fascinating. thank you so much. >> thanks a lot. >> the book is "baseball is a road to god: seeing beyond the game." john sexton, thank you very much. coming up next, business headlines with brian sullivan. keep it on "morning joe." rahhhhhh!

when i'm hungry, my tummy growls. rrrrrrrrrrrr! when i'm hungry, i feel like i want to faint. this is my hungry monster. one in six americans struggle with hunger every single day. if i could stop hunger, i would definitely do it. [ male announcer ] let's growl back at hunger. stock up on select general mills groceries at walmart's low prices between april 1st and 30th and you'll be contributing to food banks in your own community. join us in creating the biggest growl ever. ♪

weight watchers online! ♪ never thought i'd dig weight watchers ♪ ♪ never thought i'd love their app ♪ ♪ but i tried their groovy online plan ♪ ♪ and now my arms don't jiggle when i clap ♪ ♪ and i go sleeveless ♪ no shame at bingo! ♪ sleeveless, when i'm hailing a cab ♪ ♪ sleeveless! ♪ i rock the scanner [ beep ] ♪ weight-watchers-online ain't no fad ♪ [ female announcer ] join for free. and check out our risk-free guarantee.

since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes at ducktherapy.com. as your life changes, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your investments as retirement gets closer. wherever you are today, fidelity's guidance can help you fine-tune your personal economy. start today with a free one-on-one review of your retirement plan.

business before the bells. brian sullivan. happy monday to you. happy april fool's day. what's happening with the markets today? >> they're looking about as flat as the florida defense. it's the last time i'll be on "morning joe." thank goodness. >> no, no, no. >> every time you're on is the last time. >> i know. it's a communication breakdown. here's the story. we're basically flat right now. i hate to say that. but listen, we're coming off an amazing first quarter for the stock market. in fact, it was the best first quarter for the market since last first quarter. actually, we have had two great

first quarters. the question is can that continue? last year, you pretty much made all your gains in the first three months of the year. will that happen again this year? only time will tell. we'll dig into it every day here on cnbc because that is what we do. here's a story for you guys. bank boards. i'm not talking about the ceos. i'm talking about the men and women who meet maybe once a quarter, effectively a part-time job. bank board pay continues to soar. if you're on the board of a bank, you likely make $95,000 a year more than if you're on the board of another public company. >> why is that? >> well, i think banks take themselves very seriously. it's just my own opinion, right? goldman sachs, we know they're going to pay well in anything they do. but across all companies, bank boards make $95,000 a year on average. that's a job you want. you show up a couple times a year. vote, have a couple martinis, go

home. >> all right. go home. brian sullivan. >> on the front of "the wall street journal" that banks are cutting back. banks are pruning their branches. brian sullivan, thank you so much. communication breakdown. it's monday. a brand new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. but at xerox we've embraced a new role. working behind the scenes

to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. how's that for an encore? with xerox, you're ready for real business. how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

to enjoy all of these years. it's not what you think. it's a phoenix with 4 wheels. it's a hawk with night vision goggles. it's marching to the beat of a different drum. and where beauty meets brains. it's big ideas with smaller footprints. and knowing there's always more in the world to see. it's the all-new lincoln mkz.

on tomorrow's show, 10,000 small businesses graduation. arianna huffington will be here along with tory burch. and valerie jarrett. we're going to be there tonight. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? changing the world is exhausting business. with the innovating and the transforming and the revolutionizing. it's enough to make you forget that you're flying five hundred miles an hour on a chair that just became a bed. you see, we're doing some changing of our own. ah, we can talk about it later. we're putting the wonder back into air travel, one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. many cereals say they're good for your heart, but did you know there's a cereal that's recommended by doctors?

it's post shredded wheat. recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient: one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. try adding fruit for more health benefits and more taste in your bowl. it's the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat. ♪ i've got the power people lose 5x more weight following the weight watchers approach than trying on their own. you can too. ♪ ♪ you've got the power ♪ ♪ oh, yeah ♪ get the power the new weight watchers 360 program. ♪ whoo! join for free and check out the new risk free guarantee today. because it works.

and check out the new risk free guarantee today. license and registration please. what's this? uhh, it's my geico insurance id card, sir. it's digital, uh, pretty cool right? maybe. you know why i pulled you over today? because i'm a pig driving a convertible? tail light's out.. fix it. digital insurance id cards. just a click away with the geico mobile app.

welcome back to "morning joe." >> she can do anything. >> what do you mean? >> she's like brenda starr on steroids. in a good way. she dade lot id a lot of stuff. >> like what? >> there's the one track she's on the show. a whole second track where you're doing stuff, raising children, husband, business venturer. >> yep, uh-huh. >> managing other people's lives. >> sure. >> incredible. >> well, that's what happens. >> just two tracks. >> how would joe get through day without morning mika? >> what have you learned s eed ? >> i learned that if you go to l.a., you should go to pasha's for food. they're all healthy and you don't feel gross. >> they have a lot of locations. >> don't you dare